Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Glib

Glib

(glĭb)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Glibber
(glĭb′bẽr)
;
sup
erl.
Glibbest
(glĭb′bĕst)
.]
[Prob. fr. D.
glibberen
,
glippen
, to slide,
glibberig
,
glipperig
, glib, slippery.]
1.
Smooth; slippery;
as, ice is
glib
.
[Obs.]
2.
Speaking or spoken smoothly and with flippant rapidity; fluent; voluble;
as, a
glib
tongue; a
glib
speech.
Syn. – Slippery; smooth; fluent; voluble; flippant.

Glib

,
Verb.
T.
To make glib.
[Obs.]
Bp. Hall.

Glib

,
Noun.
[Ir. & Gael.
glib
a lock of hair.]
A thick lock of hair, hanging over the eyes.
[Obs.]
The Irish have, from the Scythians, mantles and long
glibs
, which is a thick curied bush of hair hanging down over their eyes, and monstrously disguising them.
Spenser.
Their wild costume of the
glib
and mantle.
Southey.

Glib

,
Verb.
T.
[Cf. O. & Prov. E.
lib
to castrate, geld, Prov. Dan.
live
, LG. & OD.
lubben
.]
To castrate; to geld; to emasculate.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition


Glib

GLIB

,
Adj.
[L. glaber, smooth; labor, to slide. This word contains the elements of slip. Qu. L. glubo.]
1.
Smooth; slippery; admitting a body to slide easily on the surface; as, ice is glib.
2.
Smooth; voluble; easily moving; as a glib tongue.

GLIB

,
Noun.
A thick curled bush of hair hanging down over the eyes. [Not in use.]

GLIB

,
Verb.
T.
To castrate.
1.
To make smooth.

Definition 2024


glib

glib

English

Adjective

glib (comparative glibber, superlative glibbest)

  1. Having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding; superficial; shallow.
  2. Smooth or slippery.
    a sheet of glib ice
  3. Artfully persuasive in nature.
    a glib tongue; a glib speech
    • Shakespeare
      I want that glib and oily art, / To speak and purpose not.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

glib (third-person singular simple present glibs, present participle glibbing, simple past and past participle glibbed)

  1. (transitive) To make glib.
    • 1628, Joseph Hall, “Christian Liberty Laid Forth,” in The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D., Volume V, London: Williams & Smith, 1808, p. 366,
      There is a drunken liberty of the Tongue; which, being once glibbed with intoxicating liquor, runs wild through heaven and earth; and spares neither him that is God above, nor those which are called gods on earth.
    • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, Book 1, lines 371-6,
      And, when to all his Angels he proposed
      To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud,
      That he might fall in Ramoth, they demurring,
      I undertook that office, and the tongues
      Of all his flattering prophets glibbed with lies
      To his destruction, as I had in charge:
    • 1730, Edward Strother, Dr. Radcliffe’s Practical Dispensatory, London: C. Rivington, p. 342,
      They are good internally in Fits of the Stone in the Kidneys, by glibbing the Ureters, and making even a large Stone pass with ease []
    • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Gran’s Battle,”
      We were having one of our bitterest cold snaps. Wind due north, shrieking over stiff land; two feet of snow, all substances glibbed with ice and granite-hard.

Etymology 2

From Irish glib.

Noun

glib (plural glibs)

  1. (historical) A mass of matted hair worn down over the eyes, formerly worn in Ireland.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:
      Whom when she saw in wretched weedes disguiz'd, / With heary glib deform'd and meiger face, / Like ghost late risen from his grave agryz'd, / She knew him not […].
    • Spenser
      The Irish have, from the Scythians, mantles and long glibs, which is a thick curled bush of hair hanging down over their eyes, and monstrously disguising them.
    • Southey
      Their wild costume of the glib and mantle.

Etymology 3

Compare Old English and dialect lib to castrate, geld, Danish dialect live, Low German and Old Dutch lubben.

Verb

glib (third-person singular simple present glibs, present participle glibbing, simple past and past participle glibbed)

  1. (obsolete) To castrate; to geld; to emasculate.
    • 1623: William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act II Scene 1
      Fourteen they shall not see
      To bring false generations. They are co-heirs;
      And I had rather glib myself than they
      Should not produce fair issue.


Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *glibъ.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡlîːb/

Noun

glȋb m (Cyrillic spelling гли̑б)

  1. mud, mire

Declension